Big Blue Weighs on the Blue Chips

Sliding shares of teach heavyweight IBM knocked the Dow into the red, while the broader markets treaded water.

Today's Markets

As of 3:15 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.2 points, or 0.17%, to 16386, the S&P 500 gained 2.1 points, or 0.12%, to 1846 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 18.8 points, or 0.45%, to 4245.

With earnings season in full swing, corporate news stole Wall Street's focus on Wednesday. IBM (IBM) and United Technologies (UTX) both revealed better-than-expected quarterly profits, but disappointing sales sent shares sliding. Both companies have price points north of $100, meaning moves in their shares will have an outsize impact on the Dow.

Texas Instruments (TXN), the chipmaker, also came under pressure amid concerns about current-quarter profits. Meanwhile, Coach (COH) tumbled after the high-end apparel maker reported a bigger-than-expected fall in sales.

Elsewhere in corporate news, VMware (VMW) said it would buy AirWatch for $1.54 billion.

There aren't any economic releases scheduled until the end of the week.

In commodities, U.S. crude oil futures climbed 62 cents, or 0.66%, to $94.99 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline rose 0.32% to $2.629 a gallon. Gold dipped 40 cents, or 0.03%, to $1,242 a troy ounce.

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U.S. stocks ended down on Tuesday in a retreat from the previous session's sharp rally as energy shares declined and the dollar edged up, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq registered their ninth straight quarterly rise.